Ape Goes to Yves Engler’s A Propaganda System Talk November 16, 2016

A Propaganda System — How Government, Corporations, Media and Academia Sell War and Exploitation — Fall 2016A Propaganda System reveals why most Canadians believe their country is a force for good in the world, despite a long history of supporting empire, racism and exploitation. The book details the vast sums Global Affairs Canada, Veterans Affairs and the Department of National Defence spend articulating a one-sided version of Canada’s foreign policy. With the largest PR machine in the country, the Canadian Forces promotes its worldview through a history department, university, journals, war commemorations, think tanks, academic programs and hundreds of public relations officers. A Propaganda System traces the long history of government information control during war, including formal censorship, as well as extreme media bias on topics ranging from Haiti to Palestine, investment agreements to the mining industry. The book also details the corporate elite’s funding for university programs and think tanks. Written for ordinary Canadians interested in the structures impeding understanding of this country’s role in the world, the book should be of interest to journalists curious about the institutions seeking to “spin” them, development workers dependent on government funds and academics interested in the foreign-policy establishment’s influence on campus.

“Engler provides a powerful argument to support his thesis that the Canadian military fields the largest PR apparatus in the nation. This fact runs in stark contrast to Canadians’ popular notion that we are a peace-loving country.”
— Scott Taylor, Esprit de Corps

“Highlights the dark sides of Canada’s real involvement in the world, from helping destabilize Haiti’s democratically elected government to backing human rights-abusing Canadian-based mining companies.”
— Robert Hackett, Simon Fraser University